


Looking Down

by Pent



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Blood and Injury, Dogs, F/M, Forbidden Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-05
Updated: 2015-09-05
Packaged: 2018-04-19 04:48:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,374
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4733312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pent/pseuds/Pent
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Levi's squad finds an injured dog in the forest.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Looking Down

**Author's Note:**

> This was written two or three years ago, so forgive the dip in Pent™ Quality™ Standard™! I spruced it up a little, so it's not as rough as it could be for a work so old. Enjoy! ヽ(*⌒∇⌒*)ﾉ

In quiet moments, Levi remembered a happier past. Before he was Captain Levi, Squad Leader of the Survey Corps, and Humanity’s Strongest Soldier—back to the days when he was just Levi the soldier. Levi the ruffian. Levi the tea connoisseur.

Before terror-filled eyes looked up to him for protection, begging for his leadership; when people didn’t hand over their lives to him under the confidence that he would make the right decisions as blood rained from the sky.

Sometimes, Levi wondered how things would have been if he refused Commander Erwin’s promotion, but there never had really been a choice. Soldiers and friends were dying left and right. Levi figured that when backed into a corner, there was nothing left to do but fight.

And as captain, Levi came to the same conclusion on a daily basis: becoming your friends’ boss is a terrible, terrible thing. It’s impossible to be a friend and a boss, or even a friendly boss—and when his peers were confronted with having to pick one or the other, they always, of course, picked “boss” over “friend”. They chose survival.

“Captain!” Petra exclaimed, bursting into the boardroom.

Levi relaxed his death grip and set his tea cup on the table, continuing to stare at the window in deep thought. “What do you want?”

“There’s, um…”

“ _Speak._ ”

“Sorry, captain… There’s a problem in the courtyard. We’re not sure what to do.”

Without hesitation, Levi stood, nudging his chair out of the way in the process. His hand hovered over his sheath. “Titans?”

“No, sir!” In a rush, Petra didn’t care to explain and marched out of the room. She was never one to draw conversations out longer than necessary. Levi followed Petra out of the barracks, admiring her blunt simplicity.  
  


* * *

  
In the courtyard, Levi’s friends— _subordinates_ —formed a loose semicircle, whispering amongst themselves at the source of disturbance lying before them. When they saw Petra and Levi trotting towards them, they tidied themselves to attention and became silent. Levi pretended like he didn’t notice.

“The hell happened here?” Levi asked, staring down at the disaster of a half-dead dog on the ground. It looked definitely-dead to Levi, but its quiet crying the occasional twitch of its back leg proved that it was still alive. Levi frowned at the dog laid before him, picturing the grueling clean up process they would soon have to endure.

“Captain, a wild dog got itself caught in one of our traps,” Gunther reported.

“Disgusting,” said Levi. The dog continued to whimper, as if sensing Levi’s coldness towards the situation. Levi surveyed its bloody, matted fur clumped together with dried mud. The stench made him take a step backwards and cup his hand over his mouth and nose . Before taking his sharp leave back towards the barracks, he gave the muffled order, “Do something about it.”  
  


* * *

  
“She cleans up pretty well, wouldn’t you say, captain?” Petra leaned down from her seat to ruffle the freshly-bathed dog’s ears. The content dog—who appeared to be a mutt of sorts—panted and panted, dirtying Petra’s hands with slobber. “Isn’t she cute?”

“Dogs shouldn’t be at the table,” Levi said, scowling against his subordinates heightened moods as they finished their dinner and brought their attention to the dog. Levi’s fork sat in his half eaten dinner as he crossed his arms. “Or indoors.”

“Come on, lighten up. We cleaned her up. Dogs are pretty rare these days, you know; I bet she’ll make a fine Titan hunter.”

Levi pursed his lips.

“If that’s alright with you, of course, captain,” Petra added.

“You have to take care of him. I’m not helping. We don’t have enough funding. It would be smarter to kill it and sell the meat to a butcher in the Stohess District.”

Had he still be Petra’s friend and peer rather than her commanding officer, Levi would have felt bad for the dejected look on her face, the glare she gave him. Before his promotion, Petra would have yelled at him for it. Levi picked at his dinner again.

“Captain’s right,” Eid chimed in. “We don’t need another mouth to feed.”  
  


* * *

  
The dog’s stench didn’t go away, even though the squad had scrubbed her clean twice. Wanting results, Levi ordered everyone to be outside at 2100 sharp, because not even a butcher would want a dog so filthy, even if it was just for meat.

This time, Levi decided to come himself to oversee the operation, wearing a face mask and gloves. He lined five buckets of soapy water a good distance away from both the barracks and the stable, having found earlier that the stench of wet dog was far more putrid than a dog covered in blood, mud, and filth.

“Captain?” Petra asked, rolling her uniform sleeves all the way up. Eid began scrubbing the dog's mud-encrusted hind legs. “Is it really necessary to be this far away from the barracks?”

“Yes,” Levi said, a good five yards from the panting dog. His voice was muffled from the mask.

Petra got down on her knees in the cumulating mud and began scrubbing the dog’s chest, using a generous amount of soapy water. “Where’s she gonna sleep, captain?”

“Chain her to the horse stables.”

“Yes, sir,” Petra answered. Disappointment hiked through her voice but Petra wasn’t one to argue with direct orders.

She peered up at Levi with bright eyes. “We’ve been trying to think of a name for her, captain. Any ideas?”

A good look at the dog’s panting face while Petra ruffled its dripping-wet ears didn’t sprout any ideas in Levi’s mind. “Don’t get too attached to it,” Levi said. “Might be dinner someday.”  
  


* * *

  
The dog—unnamed as far as Levi knew—stayed outside, tied neatly to the stables on a chain. A chain long enough for her to see the horses and bark continuously at them, a loud and annoying sound that echoed through the forest, undoubtedly inviting any Titans in the area over for supper.

As dusk approached, the squad began to shift to Levi’s side. Maybe the dog was doing more harm than good, putting their lives at risk.

Levi was prepared to do anything necessary. At nightfall, the dog began barking again. Levi wordlessly drew one of his swords and excited to barracks. Petra scrambled to follow him. “Captain! Wait!”

“This can’t go on any longer.”

“Captain, I can make her stop barking. _Please_.”

“Our lives are at risk,” said Levi, stopping at the door.  
  


* * *

  
As Petra promised, the barking stopped. The night went on with its usual quiet, though Levi barely slept, mind heavy with the thought that the dog’s barking could have alerted Titans of their location.

Levi changed his morning routine—he dressed, sat on the edge of his bed while he tied his boots, armed himself, and then headed towards the stables. The sun hadn’t risen yet, and Levi assumed most of his squad to be asleep.

What he didn’t expect to find was Petra curled up on the ground, hugging her knees to her chest as well as the dog, her red hair splayed around in the mud like paint.

Levi quickened his pace towards her, feeling suffocating dread ride up from his lungs, stealing his breath. But Petra groaned and stirred in her sleep. Levi took a shaky breath from his nose. “Petra, what are you doing? You’re going to make yourself sick.”

Eyes open wide, Petra pushed herself off the ground and tried to make herself presentable and awake as Levi leered over her. A line of mud caked the side of her face. “Captain! I was just… this is the only way I could get the dog to stop barking. I’m sorry.”

Levi studied her, a long look of half confusion and half admiration for why someone would risk so much just to protect an animal. Petra stood and brushed herself off.

“Get back to the barracks and clean yourself off,” Levi said, glancing down at the dog who was looking at Petra with sad eyes. Levi didn’t know why, but he brought his hand up to brush some dirt from her shoulder. The surprised look Petra gave him made his heart ache. He recoiled his hand and said, “Let’s go.”


End file.
